








































Roman Catholic


51

Roman Catholic 
David Kriegh, Saint Mary’s College of California, Convener
Kathy Harty, Sacred Heart Seminary & School of Theology, Secretary

MEMBERS PRESENT

• Jessica Boyer, Mount St. Mary’s University
• Ezra Choe, Baylor University
• Stephanie Garrett, Catholic Distance University 
• Kathy Harty, Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology
• Barnaby Hughes, Atla
• Alan Krieger, University of Notre Dame 
• David Kriegh, Saint Mary’s College of California 
• Brian Morin, Mt. Angel Abbey
• Ann Owen, Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology
• Steve Perisho, Seattle Pacific University
• Derek Rieckens, Catholic Theological Union
• Connie Song, Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of 

Theology
• Christa Strickler, University of Notre Dame

YEAR IN REVIEW

On June 23, 2023, members of Atla’s Roman Catholic Denomina-
tional group met virtually as a smaller but lively group. Many of 
us had just seen each other in person the previous week at Atla 
Annual 2023 in Fort Worth, but the new conference schedule did 
not allow for an additional and less formal meeting such as the 
one we conducted in Baltimore last year. However, we did note 
that much of what is discussed in our annual online meeting comes 
to fruition at the annual conference, with useful Catholic-focused 
content presented to the Atla community. Hopefully, this year’s 
meeting will be the starting point of engaging sessions when we 
reconvene in Long Beach in 2024. In the meantime, this group is 
taking the lead in developing a top-level LibGuide at Atla that will 
provide clear direction for Catholic researchers and researchers of 
Catholicism. We also resolved to keep an eye on the accessibility of 



52    ANNUAL Y E ARBOOK

recently discontinued resources such as Origins as well as publica-
tions with unpredictable distribution patterns, such as the English 
edition of L’Osservatore Romano. I hope that our common bonds 
and institutional diversity will dovetail to provide a foundation for 
greater collaboration with the shared goal of providing the widest 
and best resources for our faculty, students, and seminarians, no 
matter where they are studying.

AGENDA

1. Opening prayer: Stephanie Garrett

2. Review of 2022 Minutes: approved as submitted to the Annual 
Proceedings

3. Welcome, Introductions, and Updates

4. Old Business

a. Presentation Roundup - Ezra Choe, Christa Strickler, 
Stephen Sweeney, and Kathy Harty all presented at this 
year’s conference. Connie Song attended the Perlego 
presentation.

b. LibGuide Project - After discussions with the Atla staff, we 
have permission to have a top-level guide on Catholicism, 
rather than being a subset of the World Religions guide. 
Stephanie had sent out a survey for what to include, but 
only received six responses. We do not yet have a shell, but 
will create a Google Doc for ideas.

c. Core Print Analysis - GreenGlass is not really an option 
for our group, but it would certainly be a good idea to 
collaborate in some way between identifying core titles 
that should be part of any library of a particular type (e.g. 
seminary library) and identifying which libraries have a 
particular focus that could be part of a resource sharing 
network.

• Stephanie will send out the link to the survey, which 
will also be sent to the Catholic Library Association 
listserv by Kathy Harty.

• Connie has set up a Google Doc for all to contribute 
ideas.



Denominational Group Reports    53

• Ezra will assist with all duties.

d. Catholic Library Association Update - CLA is moving to a 
virtual, 2-day conference that combines the awards and 
presentation content. The 2024 conference is April 25-26. 
All are encouraged to consider presenting, as well as 
suggesting awardees for the Jerome Award, given by the 
Academic/Archives/Library Education section. 

e. Origins - no longer operative, and there is nothing simi-
lar that gathers less well-known statements and docu-
ments. However, the website might still contain previously 
published items.

f. David will investigate and report.

5. New Business

a. Following the April announcement of talks between the 
Catholic Research Resources Alliance (CRRA) and Atla, in 
June it was announced that CRRA was becoming part of 
Atla. CRRA members approved the vote, and are aware 
they will need to become institutional members of Atla. 
The Catholic Portal and the Newspaper Archive will 
remain openly available. The Atla website has posted an 
FAQ with more information.

b. Atla indexers have not received any issues of l’Osservatore 
Romano since February 25, 2022. There is a new U.S. 
publisher, possibly EBSCO, but Atla has had no communi-
cation from anyone. If any institution has issues they could 
donate for indexing, please contact Barnaby Hughes. 

6. Closing Prayer:  David Kriegh

ROUND ROBIN REPORTS

Baylor University – Ezra Choe, Theology and Religious Studies Li-
brarian, is new to Atla and this group and very interested in coop-
erating in theology with anyone’s projects.

Catholic Distance University – The new president begins July 3 
and envisions taking it to a research-level institution, as well as be-
coming bilingual. Stephanie Garrett is currently working on devel-
oping language fluency, as well as the library’s Spanish-language 
holdings.



54    ANNUAL Y E ARBOOK

Catholic Theological Union – Derek Rieckens reports that the Lu-
theran School of Theology and McCormick Seminary will be leas-
ing space at CTU, which means the library will be weeding 30% of 
its print collection in order to create space. He will be working with 
SCELC to use OCLC GreenGlass in analyzing their holdings to make 
selections.

Mt. Angel Abbey – Brian Morin has secured a fully-funded archi-
vist/cataloger position, and the library has completed its first year 
with new ILS Koha and OpenAthens.

Mount St. Mary’s Seminary and School of Theology – Connie Song 
reports the library is in preparation for remodeling the reference 
room, currently weeding the reference collection. Any insights or 
suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, she is beginning 
thesis work for her MAT.

Mount St. Mary’s University – Library director Jessica Boyer re-
ports that the library is migrating to a new ILS, Alma.

Sacred Heart Seminary & School of Theology – Jennie Bar-
tholomew has retired, and the school is in the process of a library 
director search. All 3 full-time librarians now have faculty status. 
The school is developing an institutional repository using Omeka 
through a consortia purchase. Cardinal Stritch University, one of 
the founding members of the SWITCH consortium in Milwaukee, 
closed suddenly this spring.

Saint Mary’s College of California – David Kriegh earned an MA 
in Theology from Holy Apostles College & Seminary this past May. 
The library is in the process of weeding about ¼ of the collection in 
preparation for a building remodel.

Seattle Pacific University – Steve Perisho reports that the institu-
tion has been struggling financially. Forty percent of the faculty 
have been laid off, and no replacements will be hired for library 
paraprofessionals.

University of Notre Dame – Christa Strickler is in her first year as 
the e-reserves metadata librarian. The university is preparing for 
a new library system. Alan Krieger reports that the library is in the 
midst of strategic planning and gap analysis and commented on 
CRRA’s new partnership with Atla.

Atla – Barnaby Hughes is now on the editorial board for the Catho-
lic Library World journal. He has been indexing the journals from 



Denominational Group Reports    55

the Oblate School of Theology and the Catholic Southwest / Texas 
Catholic History Association for Atla’s Catholic Periodical Litera-
ture Index (CPLI). 


